1,885 research outputs found
Towards Portability of Models for Predicting Students’ Final Performance in University Courses Starting from Moodle Logs
Predicting students’ academic performance is one of the older challenges faced by the educational scientific community. However, most of the research carried out in this area has focused on obtaining the best accuracy models for their specific single courses and only a few works have tried to discover under which circumstances a prediction model built on a source course can be used in other different but similar courses. Our motivation in this work is to study the portability of models obtained directly from Moodle logs of 24 university courses. The proposed method intends to check if grouping similar courses by the degree or the similar level of usage of activities provided by the Moodle logs, and if the use of numerical or categorical attributes affect in the portability of the prediction models. We have carried out two experiments by executing the well-known classification algorithm over all the datasets of the courses in order to obtain decision tree models and to test their portability to the other courses by comparing the obtained accuracy and loss of accuracy evaluation measures. The results obtained show that it is only feasible to directly transfer predictive models or apply them to different courses with an acceptable accuracy and without losing portability under some circumstances
The canonical structure of Podolsky's generalized electrodynamics on the Null-Plane
In this work we will develop the canonical structure of Podolsky's
generalized electrodynamics on the null-plane. This theory has second-order
derivatives in the Lagrangian function and requires a closer study for the
definition of the momenta and canonical Hamiltonian of the system. On the
null-plane the field equations also demand a different analysis of the
initial-boundary value problem and proper conditions must be chosen on the
null-planes. We will show that the constraint structure, based on Dirac
formalism, presents a set of second-class constraints, which are exclusive of
the analysis on the null-plane, and an expected set of first-class constraints
that are generators of a U(1) group of gauge transformations. An inspection on
the field equations will lead us to the generalized radiation gauge on the
null-plane, and Dirac Brackets will be introduced considering the problem of
uniqueness of these brackets under the chosen initial-boundary condition of the
theory
Podolsky Electromagnetism at Finite Temperature: Implications on Stefan-Boltzmann Law
In this work we study Podolsky electromagnetism in thermodynamic equilibrium.
We show that a Podolsky mass-dependent modification to the Stefan-Boltzmann law
is induced and we use experimental data to limit the possible values for this
free parameter.Comment: 13 pages, submitted to Physical Review
Hypoglycemic effect of Berberis microphylla G Forst root extract
Purpose: To evaluate the effect of the root extract of Berberis microphylla on glucose uptake and AMPK-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activity in non-resistant and insulin-resistant HepG2 cells.Methods: B. microphylla root was extracted with absolute ethanol, filtered, concentrated and lyophilized. Subsequently, liver cells, HepG2 (resistant and non-insulin resistant), were exposed for 24 h to different concentrations of the extract (10, 5, 2.5 and 1.25 x 10-3 μg/μL) to determine the stimulation of glucose uptake and phosphorylation of AMPK.Results: In HepG2 cells without resistance exposed to B. microphylla root extract, glucose uptake varied from 34 to 59 % of the available glucose while AMPK phosphorylation was 1.9 to 3.6 times the phosphorylation of the control. In insulin-resistant HepG2 cells, glucose uptake varied from 68 to 95 % of available glucose while AMPK phosphorylation was 1.8 to 3.3 times the phosphorylation of the control.Conclusion: The root extract of B. microphylla possesses hypoglycemic effects and stimulates glucose uptake in HepG2 cells with and without resistance by activating AMPK protein.Keywords: Calafate, Diabetes, Antihyperglycemic effect, Phytomedicine, Berberis, Insulin resistanc
Hamilton-Jacobi formalism for Linearized Gravity
In this work we study the theory of linearized gravity via the
Hamilton-Jacobi formalism. We make a brief review of this theory and its
Lagrangian description, as well as a review of the Hamilton-Jacobi approach for
singular systems. Then we apply this formalism to analyze the constraint
structure of the linearized gravity in instant and front-form dynamics.Comment: To be published in Classical and Quantum Gravit
Uniform approximation for the overlap caustic of a quantum state with its translations
The semiclassical Wigner function for a Bohr-quantized energy eigenstate is
known to have a caustic along the corresponding classical closed phase space
curve in the case of a single degree of freedom. Its Fourier transform, the
semiclassical chord function, also has a caustic along the conjugate curve
defined as the locus of diameters, i.e. the maximal chords of the original
curve. If the latter is convex, so is its conjugate, resulting in a simple fold
caustic. The uniform approximation through this caustic, that is here derived,
describes the transition undergone by the overlap of the state with its
translation, from an oscillatory regime for small chords, to evanescent
overlaps, rising to a maximum near the caustic. The diameter-caustic for the
Wigner function is also treated.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure
Making sense of the bizarre behaviour of horizons in the McVittie spacetime
The bizarre behaviour of the apparent (black hole and cosmological) horizons
of the McVittie spacetime is discussed using, as an analogy, the
Schwarzschild-de Sitter-Kottler spacetime (which is a special case of McVittie
anyway). For a dust-dominated "background" universe, a black hole cannot exist
at early times because its (apparent) horizon would be larger than the
cosmological(apparent) horizon. A phantom-dominated "background" universe
causes this situation, and the horizon behaviour, to be time-reversed.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
- …